ACTA's Must-Reads

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In Memoriam: Oscar Handlin

Understanding and appreciating America - that was Oscar Handlin. And understanding and tackling the threats to historical literacy and rigorous standards - that, too, was Oscar Handlin.

In these goals, Handlin and ACTA had a shared passion. How delighted and honored we were when this great professor joined hands with ACTA, in the early days, to reclaim academic excellence and accountability. A graduate of Brooklyn College and a professor at Harvard University, Handlin was the product of a demanding and rigorous education, and he wanted others to experience the joys of high expectations.

He worried about increasing historical amnesia and political correctness in the academy. He and other eminent historians, including Gordon Wood and David McCullough, endorsed ACTA's first history report, Losing America's Memory, which drew attention to America's troubling historical illiteracy.

"History is a discipline in decline," he wrote at that time. "There is profound ignorance not only among students but among their teachers as well. This study confirms that."

Before then, Professor Handlin had helped form the Committee for the Brooklyn Core which successfully opposed the "dumbing down" of Brooklyn's famed core curriculum.

It is with great sadness - and great appreciation - that we mark his passing.

Posted by Anne D. Neal on September 27, 2011 at 03:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Changing the Drug and Alcohol Culture

Dartmouth's president, Jim Yong Kim, properly reminded the nation of the dangers and tragic costs of student alcohol abuse. Irresponsible drinking, along with substance abuse, costs thousands of lives and has devastating effects on brain development, focus, and, of course, academic achievement.

This Fall, ACTA will release a new guide for trustees, "It's a Crisis Not a Party: Alcohol and Substance Abuse on Campus. "The remedies are not simple, but a serious academic culture, in which more hours are devoted to the classroom, library, and laboratory, will do much to stop the tragedies that come from alcohol and substance abuse. Trustees can and must take leadership roles in making this happen.

Posted by dburnett on September 23, 2011 at 05:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

ACTA Policy Director to Testify before Joint Committee on Governance in Texas

(AUSTIN, TX- September 21, 2011) -- American Council of Trustees and Alumni Vice President of Policy Michael Poliakoff will address a bipartisan committee of Texas state legislators at 11:00 am EDT (10:00 am CDT) on Wednesday, September 21, 2011, regarding the crucial role that trustees play in ensuring excellence and accountability in higher education. The hearing will be streamed live and broadcast over YouTube and on the Texas State Senate website.

Poliakoff is appearing before the Joint Oversight Committee on Higher Education Governance, Excellence, and Transparency. The committee was formed in May by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Speaker Joe Straus and is co-chaired by state Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) and state Rep. Dan Branch (R-Dallas). Texas has recently been the center of a major debate about higher education reform and the role of trustees.

In written testimony supplied to the Committee, Poliakoff -- formerly Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University of Colorado and Director of Education Programs at the National Endowment for the Humanities -- outlines best practices pursued, inside and outside Texas, to ensure affordable, quality education.

"It is on the governing board that accountability to the citizens of the state ultimately rests," Poliakoff said. "And more than ever before, the public is demanding greater accountability."

Quoting former Yale University president and Chairman of the City University of New York Board of Trustees Benno Schmidt, Poliakoff wrote that "Change in institutional strategy can only come from trustees."

Highlights of the testimony include:
The Need for Academic Program Prioritization
- The competing claims of academic departments and personal interest make program prioritization an immensely difficult undertaking. But substantive reform can occur when boards engage in rigorous review and make tough, though necessary, decisions.
- Within the last year, the Louisiana Board of Regents reviewed every academic program and approved the termination of 109 programs, consolidation of 17, and combination consolidation/termination of 172 programs.

Efficient Use of Capital Assets
- Since 1970, the average assignable space per student appears to have tripled; and campus building and tuition fees have ballooned alongside it. Many institutions vastly underutilize the space available.
- Governing boards and coordinating boards can step in to control unnecessary building.

Multiple Metrics to Gauge Student Learning and Weigh Educational Quality Against Competing Academic Priorities
- It is imperative that governing boards receive and analyze information on student learning gains, along with other academic outcome measures, and that the data be used actively in academic policy decisions.
- Beginning in 1998, the South Dakota Board of Regents embraced the Collegiate Assessment of Academic
Progress (CAAP) and several of its schools have made significant curriculum changes in response to CAAP deficiencies.
- Iowa State developed a Position Responsibility Statement (PRS) for each professor in consultation with the department chair and dean that adjusts expectations for teaching, research, and service to the needs of the university -- and the skills of the professor. Iowa State recognizes that it is simply not effective to assume there is one "standard" allocation of faculty time.
- As tuition costs escalate, it is the fiduciary duty of a governing board to weigh competing academic priorities.
Poliakoff praised Texas for leading the way in transparency issues. For example, Poliakoff wrote that most Texas public institutions voluntarily post data online on the Voluntary System of Accountability College Portrait site. Poliakoff cited Texas for its outstanding core curriculum, praising the legislature for its commitment to an efficient and coherent education, and urging taxpayers and policymakers to be vigilant in ensuring colleges and universities in Texas continue to offer students "a far more coherent educational framework than most institutions around the country."

ACTA has previously published a report about the academic situation within the Big 12. That report is available for free online.

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni is an independent, nonprofit organization committed to academic freedom, excellence and accountability at America’s colleges and universities.

Posted by dburnett on September 21, 2011 at 03:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Accreditation Controversy at Northern Kentucky University

Last fall, professors of philosophy Dr. Terry Pence and Dr. Robert Trundle of Northern Kentucky University filed a formal complaint against NKU and the university's regional accrediting body, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and Commission of Colleges (COC). Drs Pence and Trundle allege NKU violated SACS' standards regarding Core Requirement 2.7.3. (on gen-ed curricula) and Comprehensive Standards 2.7.3 (on faculty qualifications) in the process of overhauling its general-education program. After some back and forth between Pence and Trundle, NKU, and SACS, the professors filed an additional complaint against SACS for failing to seriously and thoroughly examine the complaint against NKU. Interestingly, both NKU and SACS concluded that the newly conceived gen-ed program satisfied all SACS standards.

However, in June the Education Department sent a warning to SACS for not fully evaluating NKU's program or responding fully to the complaints lodged by Pence and Trundle. SACS responded in July saying that all problems had been addressed, but the Education Department is not buying it.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reported yesterday that the USDOE has sent another warning to SACS, determining "that the commission is still not in compliance" with federal regulations when reviewing the NKU program and that USDOE "was not convinced that Northern Kentucky's new general-education requirements met" SACS standards.

Furthermore, the Education Department rebuffed SACS' claim that the NKU program was not a "significant departure from existing offerings of educational programs," instead finding in favor of Pence and Trundle that the new curriculum amounted to a "concerted and systematic effort to implement a wholly new general-education program." SACS has until January to respond.

ACTA applauds professors Pence and Trundle for holding their institution and accrediting body to account. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. The opaque and arcane nature of accreditation provides cover to many schools offering courses with questionable academic merit, and simultaneously fails to hold accrediting bodies responsible for the academic deterioration occurring under their aegis. Because of these structural shortcomings ACTA has consistently advocated for comprehensive reform in the accreditation process.

Posted by Max Brindle on September 20, 2011 at 11:18 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Great Courses

From ancient literature to medieval theology to enlightenment philosophy to modern economic theory, the Great Courses teaching company has for over 20 years been in the business of offering video and audio lectures from well-regarded professors on the foundational disciplines that shape human existence. Courses focus on the canonical works of each subject, be it Plato, Adam Smith, Beethoven, Marcus Aurelius, Kant, Newton, Weber, or the like.

And with over 350 courses available, 9 million copies sold, and annual sales of $110 million, business is good.

Heather Mac Donald of City Journal recently profiled the Chantilly, Virginia based company. In 2006, private equity firm Brentwood Associates acquired a majority stake; since then profits have doubled. "Few Businesses have such a passionate consumer base," Brentwood's Eric Reiter tells Mac Donald, "Nine out of ten people on the street have never heard about it, but nine out of ten, upon learning about the product, want it."

ACTA applauds the Great Courses and its founder Thomas M. Rollins for marrying market demand and the need for intellectual engagement. But, Mac Donald suggests, the company's success illuminates the bewildering lack of a similar pedagogy at the university level despite voracious interest in the subject matter. Profits are likely evidence enough, but ACTA's research further demonstrates that today's college students and professionals are clamoring for an education grounded in the cornerstones of human thought and sorely missing in the modern academy. Our recent Roper survey found that 70 percent of Americans believe colleges and universities should require students to take basic classes in core subjects such as writing, math, science, economics, U.S. history, and foreign language - that number jumps to 80 percent among 25- to 34-year-olds. And yet, more than 60 percent of all colleges and universities rated in our What Will They Learn? report scored a "C" grade or worse for requiring three or fewer of these core subjects. As far as many colleges are concerned, Plato and Shakespeare are on the same plane as, say, "Beer and Society" at Furman University or "Women in Refrigerators and Beyond: A Feminist Approach to Reading Comic Books" at Indiana University - South Bend.

Great Courses has admirably filled this intellectual vacuum for its market, but it simply cannot replace a renewed commitment from our colleges and universities to a rigorous education grounded in the great works, people, and ideas of human history. Trustees - take note!

Posted by Max Brindle on September 20, 2011 at 09:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Blank Stares

A team of researchers led by Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith conducted a study in which they interviewed 230 young adults aged 18 to 23 about morality and its place in their personal lives. As Columnist David Brooks recently highlighted, in the overwhelming majority researchers were met with... blank stares.

Smith and his team found that "Not many of them have previously given much or any thought to many of the kinds of questions about morality that we asked." And as Brooks noted, "you see the young people groping to say anything sensible on these matters. But they just don't have the categories or vocabulary to do so."

Given ACTA's numerous studies, this sad state of affairs hardly surprises. Our What Will They Learn? research shows that students can receive a diploma without ever encountering a rigorous program of reading and writing that is representative of a liberal arts core -- one that ensures young adults receive the requisite skills to engage in substantive discussion -- on morality and other issues of public concern. Over 60 percent of the 1007 colleges and universities reviewed in WWTL received a "C" or worse for requiring three or fewer subjects out of seven key areas of study.

The costs of such a haphazard and lackadaisical education are plain for all see. Whether in the job market or the market of ideas, students and the newly-graduated are looking at the difficult and pressing realities of our time with...blank stares.

Posted by Max Brindle on September 19, 2011 at 09:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Air Force ROTC scheduled to take off at Yale in 2012

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni has consistently advocated for the restoration of college ROTC programs (including work at Yale, Harvard and Columbia, for example) and applauds Yale University's decision to once again offer an Air Force ROTC program on campus.

An agreement was reached Monday between the US Air Force and Yale officials to begin classes for cadets in fall 2012. The decision comes after officials announced the return of Naval ROTC last May.

Students in New Haven have not had the option to join the AFROTC since the program was dismantled at Yale and a number of other universities during the Vietnam War era. ACTA has also encouraged and supported Harvard University and Columbia University in their efforts fully to restore ROTC to their campuses.

Posted by dburnett on September 13, 2011 at 01:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

So Goes Harvard

Just last week, ACTA joined former Harvard College Dean Harry Lewis in criticizing a new pledge for Harvard freshmen to affirm "kindness...on a par with intellectual attainment." Lewis and ACTA argued that, though technically voluntary, freshmen would feel compelled to sign on because the signatures were to be publicly displayed - students would know who had signed and who had not. We also suggested that simplistic pledges were scarcely the food of intellectual engagement and growth.

Apparently, Harvard was listening. Now Harvard College has seen fit to reverse course. The College will no longer include signatures with the pledge, though the pledge itself will still hang publicly in freshmen entryways. Dean of Freshmen Thomas Dingman spoke to the student daily newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, saying it was "unfortunate" that some students felt pressured to sign the pledge and that was not the college's intention, though he did stand behind the pledge and affirm its articulation of the expectations of the community.

Why not start over again? Instead of greeting students with a pledge, why not something a bit more revolutionary - a real conversation! Why not a discussion of academic freedom, intellectual diversity and a robust exchange of ideas? Why not explore the utility of a pledge? Or have a broader debate about the values most essential to a thriving academic community. Why not model the kind of real intellectual engagement that the rest of the world expects from Harvard - and that Harvard should, in turn, expect of itself?

Posted by Max Brindle on September 13, 2011 at 10:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

In Memoriam - B.V. "Dexter" Brooks

Trustee, engaged alum, active citizen, joyous creator of crossword puzzles. All of these describe ACTA friend and wise counsel, B.V. "Dexter" Brooks, who died August 31.

An active tennis player, sailor and skier, B.V. brought a positive energy to every activity. And he brought remarkable conviction as well.

Realizing the important role alumni can play in holding their alma maters to high standards, B.V. vigorously opposed efforts to diminish independent voices on the Dartmouth board of trustees. He understood that good governance is essential and that alumni could and should speak their minds about institutional actions.

He also realized the importance of competition in the educational marketplace. In recent years, he had promoted online education to focus on American history and Western Civilization - topics he felt were too often neglected by traditional four-year institutions.

He was intellectually engaged, well-read yet forever a student, active in the public sphere, and devoted to his country. We bid him a fond farewell.

Posted by Anne D. Neal on September 12, 2011 at 12:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Open Letter to President Obama

Earlier this month in anticipation of President Obama's jobs speech, ACTA sent a letter to President Obama and Congressional leaders reminding them that any jobs agend must include higher education reform. The full text follows:

Dear President Obama:

As you, and other national leaders, prepare to address our country's dire job situation, it's important to keep in mind one reason employers aren't hiring: they're not happy with the caliber of recent college graduates. Each year, more than 1.5 million Americans walk across a stage, turn a tassel and accept a diploma. Unfortunately, that diploma is rapidly losing its value. A college education simply isn't delivering the skills and knowledge employers and the global marketplace require. Any jobs agenda must include higher education reform.

Why? Colleges are offering an education in name only. Our review of more than 1000 schools across the country, released last week under the title What Will They Learn?, www.whatwilltheylearn.com, shows that only 5% require economics; less than 20% require American history or government. More than 60% have three or fewer curricular requirements, allowing students to graduate with vast gaps in their skills and knowledge.

Employers confirm this. Studies published by the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the Conference Board/ 21st Century Partnership show that 87% of employers believe American colleges and universities must raise the quality of student achievement for our country to remain competitive in a global market. 63% say recent college graduates do not have the skills they need to succeed. Over a quarter of employers consider entry-level writing skills to be deficient. How can we expect the students of today to become the leaders of tomorrow when the American higher education system is equipping them only with wishful thinking and a mere shell of an education?

The American people understand the impact of these realities. In a Roper Survey conducted last month, 70% said they believe a core curriculum - rich in the basics of math, economics, history, and writing, among others - should be mandatory for all college students. That number rose to 80% among 25- to 34-year-olds, the segment that includes hundreds of thousands of young Americans struggling to find employment and realizing their education, devoid of the fundamentals, isn't enough to net them that first job.

It's not a matter of more money; U.S. spending on postsecondary education is already, per student, more than twice as much as the OECD average. It is a question of demanding that higher education return to its first principles - rigorous, college-level education. The world has a labor surplus and that is not going to change. The only thing that will change is America's ability to produce graduates who have the core skills and knowledge that will enable them to be leaders and innovators in the global economy.

Any agenda to spur job opportunities in America, either short or long term, will be hollow without our leadership urging real and comprehensive change in higher education. We encourage all of our national and educational leaders to see this as a priority and to put a spotlight on this challenge. It's a question of making a degree worth more than the paper it is printed on. If we want job growth in America, we must demand higher education reform.

Sincerely,

Anne D. Neal
President

cc: Speaker John Boehner
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

Posted by Max Brindle on September 12, 2011 at 11:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Governors and Higher Ed

As anyone who follows higher ed knows, the strong, independent board is a centerpiece of American academia's carefully calibrated system of checks and balances.

"Historically and philosophically a part of our democratic tradition, lay governance brings the perspective of informed citizens to the heart of the university," writes former University of Wisconsin regent Phyllis Krutsch. "Part insider and outsider, never completely satisfying the advocacy wishes of the university nor the oversight expectations of elected officials, the board's role is akin to a fiduciary. The ideal board takes into account the perspective of students, faculty, parents, administrators, elected officials, and others--yet is beholden to none of them. It is mindful of the mission and special purposes of the university, and the trust that it holds."

In other words, the lay board is independent, the mouthpiece or rubber stamp of no one. Its job is to fulfill its fiduciary responsibilities--not to serve special interests. This is true whether the board is appointed by the governor or the legislature, or nominated by a nominating committee.

Consider Texas.

There, the governor appoints trustees. Naturally, those trustees are likely to be individuals who share the governor's vision of what the state's colleges and universities should be doing. They are also quite likely to be individuals who supported the governor's election campaigns--after all, campaign contributions tend to go to like-minded candidates. And so it is in Texas, where Governor Perry's lengthy incumbency has resulted in boards filled with his personal appointees. Those boards, in turn, have chosen campus chancellors. Most of those appointments have gone to non-academics, some of whom are former elected officials.

Last week, Inside Higher Ed devoted a long article to this fact, strongly suggesting that there is something very wrong with this picture. "The academic chancellor seems like a rarity in Texas right now," IHE notes. Acknowledging that this is par for the course, that many university systems work just fine without academic chancellors, and that in Texas, it's important for chancellors to know their way around the legislature, IHE nevertheless maintains that "Many see the appointments as a further politicization of higher education systems that have had a tumultuous relationship with the state's political elite."

One could reasonably ask what the story is here. In Texas, higher ed governance is operating just the way it is supposed to. As a general matter, governors provide leadership; they appoint trustees; they set an agenda for change. (This is outlined fully in ACTA's new publication, Leading the Charge: Governors, Higher Education and Accountability.) Governors shape priorities for funding. They have the bully pulpit to put issues of quality, cost and accountability at the top of the public agenda. And while some professors may be nervous that governor-appointed boards and their hand-picked chancellors may bring an unwelcome agenda with them, that is, quite frankly, the nature of the democratic process. The way to achieve results in a democracy is for elected officials to advocate changes based on concerns of the public, and to empower their appointees to make such changes.

Faculties always regard trustees and administrators with suspicion. It's part of the academic landscape. They also tend to believe (as do many trustees) that the main job of trustees is to advocate for their institutions. In fact, trustees are public officials with a fiduciary obligation to represent the taxpayer.

The real test is in whether Texas boards and chancellors function independently, with the public interest in mind. And just three days after IHE expressed its doubts about Texas, it ran a glowing piece about how the Texas Board of Regents, working with the chancellors, is managing to thread the needle when it comes to implementing new, hotly contested accountability measures across the system. The new plan, proposed by UT chancellor Francisco Cigarroa (a former academic), was unanimously adopted by the board, and has drawn praise from a wide range of previously conflicting constituencies--even those who didn't vote for Governor Perry.

Posted by Anne D. Neal on September 01, 2011 at 02:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack